Considering
that tens of millions of Americans now take statins to lower cholesterol,
the following headline was conspicuously absent from the major media this
month: “Statins Found to Turn On Gene that Causes Muscle Damage.” It’s
now a fact of science; a
new study shows that taking statins destroys your muscle to a greater
or lesser degree. And let’s not forget that the heart is a muscle.

Place
this study juxtaposed to another rather interesting
recent finding: the more fit you are the longer you will live – and
the two just don’t add up. How can you destroy muscle and be more fit?
You can’t. Sure you can drug your cholesterol number lower, but will you
be healthier, fit, and live longer?

In the
new study researchers found that statins activate a gene signal in muscles
called atrogen-1. When this gene activates it targets key muscle proteins
for destruction. The activation of this gene drives the process of muscle
atrophy and muscle wasting. It is induced in cardiac muscle in failing
hearts. Why on earth would any person want this gene activated by a drug?

The
researchers tested statin-taking humans who were complaining of severe
muscle pain. Muscle biopsy found that the atrogen-1 gene was activated,
compared to people with severe muscle pain not on statins and controls.
They went on to show through various experiments that statins activate
the gene. This is extremely bad news for any person taking a statin.

Right
now doctors ignore the majority of muscle aches and pains caused by statins,
and in their mind only consider the problem serious when it is debilitating
(rhabdomyolysis), which apparently happens less than 1% of the time. However,
at least 5%
- 7% of statin users experience significant muscle problems. The number
is greater
than 10% if a person is taking the now commonly prescribed higher
doses. And if a person is trying to be fit and exercise the number jumps
to 25%. These numbers are clearly on the low end as it has now been
shown that doctors are ignoring
their patients, not reporting the side effects of statins to the FDA,
and telling them the side effects they are experiencing are not from the
drug!

This
new science shows that as soon as the atrogen-1 gene is activated by statins
it starts destroying muscle. This means that even mild aches or pains
while taking a statin is a sign that muscle is being destroyed, an entirely
new and sobering perspective on the side effects of statins. Statins directly
work against being physically fit, as is evidenced by the difficulty statin
users have exercising without troubling symptoms.

Cardiomyopathy
(serious weakening of the heart muscle) is a known adverse and often not
reported side effect of statin therapy, previously thought to be the result
of a statin-induced
coenzyme Q10 deficiency. It is likely that the combination of Q10
deficiency with atrogen-1 activation is behind this problem.

Statins
– Perversion of Science for Profit

The
statin industry is a 20-billion-a-year propaganda machine, producing more
yearly revenues from one class of drug than all professional U.S. sports
combined. Just like any hot-selling drug on the market, negative studies
are discouraged to say the least. They are either thrown in the trash
can when they don’t work out or critical researchers are often blackmailed,
meaning if they publish something negative they will never again get research
money from the industry. These well known tactics discourage basic research
on drug-related toxicity problems.

When
statistics
are honestly looked at in the case of using statins for many years
to prevent a first heart attack, for every life that is saved (1% over
10 years use) statins cause an equal number of adverse deaths due to accidents,
infection, suicide, and cancer (1% over 10 years use). This means that
as a general
public health measure, which is now the lion’s share of current statin
use, they are an ineffectual waste of money. It has now been
proven that middle-age men would be better off taking an aspirin a
day for a tiny fraction of the cost (of course there are many supplement
options). Statin-taking for a number of years does not reduce mortality
rate. None of these facts phase the statin industry, which keeps churning
out positive spin and moving right along regardless of the damage being
doing and the money wasted.

The
fraud of statins inside one’s body centers on the regulation of an enzyme
known as HMG CoA reductase. Statins work by reducing the function of this
enzyme, the higher the dose the more the enzyme is reduced, and the less
cholesterol is made. It is well known that individuals with naturally
lower cholesterol (LDL at 130, total less than 200) in their 40s and 50s
have fewer cardiovascular problems as they grow older. However, taking
a statin to reduce cholesterol to these levels or even lower is not the
same thing as natural healthy function.

In healthy
individuals with lower cholesterol the HMG CoA reductase enzyme is active
at a high level as part of health. It is part of a complex communication
system within the body that regulates energy, immunity, fat metabolism,
leptin, cellular thyroid hormone activity, liver-related synthesis, stress
tolerance, adrenal function, sex hormone synthesis, and brain function.
This system is core to survival! The high activity of this enzyme is a
type of metabolic fitness, similar to the idea of muscle fitness. The
enzyme is very active in a healthy state for a variety of important and
vital needs.

Drugging
this enzyme is similar to making a person get around in a wheelchair,
whether they need one or not. If you put a person’s metabolism in a statin-induced
straightjacket, then maybe Humpty Dumpty won’t fall off the wall so easily.
That may be a useful concept for someone in brittle cardiovascular health,
but it has little to do with the average person concerned about general
cardiovascular well being and maintaining a healthy level of fitness and
vitality.

Doctors
don’t use statins to try and reduce HMG CoA activity a little bit, with
the idea of approximating some type of healthy function of the enzyme
(the lowest and least toxic dose possible to provide improvement). Doctors
actually could care less what healthy function of the enzyme actually
is. Rather, the new “gold standard of medical care” is to batter the enzyme
into a state of submission so that cholesterol levels are abnormally low.
Any apparent benefits of a statin, many of which are falsely touted, is
accomplished by poisoning some aspect of health. How long can such a charade
be allowed to continue on millions of unsuspecting Americans? Why won’t
the FDA demand drug companies include a correct risk profile as part of
the labeling? As normal, the FDA continues to sleep on duty.

Double
the Dose – Rake in the Billions

In 2004
the government-funded National Cholesterol Education Program selected
a panel of nine “experts” to review statin drug use and make recommendations
as to guidelines doctors should follow to reduce cardiovascular disease.
They recommended that individuals at high cardiovascular disease risk
attain LDL levels < 100 mg/dL and individuals at very high cardiovascular
risk attain LDL levels < 70 mg/dL (levels that are abnormal, levels which
are seldom ever this low in healthy people with no cardiovascular disease).
Their advice was published in the marketing journal of the American Heart
Association, Circulation.
This “scientific journal” failed to disclose that six
of the nine authors had direct financial ties to the makers of statin
drugs.

Today,
in doctor’s offices around the country, these abnormal cholesterol levels
are being pushed on anyone over the age of 40, requiring a double or triple
dose of statins or combination with some other toxic drug (like fibrates)
to achieve these completely unnatural and unhealthy levels of cholesterol.
In hindsight we can see that these recommendations boosted yearly statin
sales by seven billion dollars. A
class-action lawsuit has already been filed against Pfizer for illegal
Lipitor promotion. Many others are sure
to follow as this fraud becomes better understand by those who are
injured and those footing the bill.

Further
highlighting this fraud is a study appearing in the October 3, 2006, issue
of the Annals
of Internal Medicine. Researchers reviewed all studies relating
to cholesterol-lowering benefits by statin drugs, with a focus on the
new abnormally low cholesterol levels promoted by the American Heart Association.
Their conclusion, “current clinical evidence does not demonstrate that
titrating lipid therapy to achieve proposed low LDL cholesterol levels
is beneficial or safe.” That is a rather shocking conclusion coming more
than two years after the fact. The finding did not phase the statin marketing
machine or the prescribing habits of any physician.

Make
Vitamin E a Scapegoat

During
the time in 2004 that Big Pharma was plotting its statin bonanza it needed
to fire cannonballs at its most widely recognized competition, Vitamin
E and other antioxidants. No problem. First, in August 2004, the American
Heart Association used its marketing magazine to print
a bogus article contradicting hundreds of nutritional studies, stating
that antioxidants A, C, and E are not effective for cardiovascular disease
risk reduction. Then, in November of 2004, with
trumpets blaring at their yearly AHA meeting, they make the brazenly
fraudulent claim that vitamin E increases the risk of death by 6%!!!

Outside
the marketing meeting masquerading as a scientific conference, the chairman,
Dr. Raymond Gibbons of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was holding
a dog and pony show press conference. “I spend all my time trying to tell
patients why they
should not take vitamin E. Too often in terms of the supplements there's
very scant science. In this area, we have the science. Vitamin E doesn't
work.” He implored his captive audience of reporters to help him convince
patients to stop taking Vitamin E and take the “proven” drugs. The next
day, all major media ran the story telling consumers vitamin E was dangerous.
Program effective. Damage done.

Within
weeks the American Heart Association had brainwashed doctors and the American
public to actually think vitamin E was dangerous, clearing out the primary
competition to statins for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular
disease. Doctors were telling all their patients to stop taking vitamin
E. The anti-vitamin rhetoric spread like wild fire through doctor’s offices
around the nation and continues to this day.

Within
a week the bogus vitamin E information coming from the American Heart
Association meeting was debunked. Physician and nutritional expert, Alan
Gaby, pointed
out all the flaws as well as the safe and effective track record of
vitamin E. By April of 2005 the leading
antioxidant scientists in the world had published a comprehensive
review showing the safety of vitamin E up to doses of 1600 IU per day,
again debunking the false vitamin E story and explaining the high degree
of safety of antioxidant nutrients. The media was nowhere to be found;
the public never heard vitamin E was truly safe and vital for immune function,
prevention of cognitive decline, and a wonderful nutrient for cardiovascular
support.

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In July
of 2005, the Journal of the American Medical Association published
the results of an amazing vitamin E and heart disease study. After tracking
40,000 women for eight years it was proven that vitamin
E lowered the risk of cardiovascular death by 24%! However, JAMA
authors, going along with the vitamin E smear campaign, concluded that
vitamin E was not worth recommending! Any drug with that kind of statistical
evidence would be a billion dollar blockbuster. The media failed to look
at the study and reported everywhere that vitamin E was not needed, denying
women the true information about a wonderful cardiovascular support
nutrient.

Likewise,
an August 2007 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled cardiovascular
study published in the Archives
of Internal Medicine found that natural vitamin E reduced cardiovascular
death or serious cardiovascular disease by a statistically significant
13%, the primary end point of the study. Natural vitamin E also showed
improvement in secondary end points, including a 22% reduction in heart
attacks, a 27% reduction in strokes (31% when combined with vitamin C),
and a 9% reduction in cardiovascular death. Once again the study results
were hidden deep in the paper, downplayed by the authors, and not correctly
reported in the media.

And
in November the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported the results of another randomized,
double-blind, placebo-controlled vitamin E study showing that vitamin
E was completely safe at doses of 1200 IU per day in patients with existing
cardiovascular disease. Once again the media was nowhere to be found.

It is
hard to calculate how many elderly people have been injured and killed
by the proclamation not to take vitamin E and to take statins in super-high
doses. Vitamin E is absolutely vital for heart function and healthy immunity
in older Americans. When a statin-taking senior dies the physician never
notes the deterioration of health that often begins with taking a statin
or increasing the statin dose. Rather, the physician simply blames the
health of the patient for the death – isn’t that convenient. Thus, statin-induced
deaths are hidden and grossly under-reported.

A
New Statin Fraud Emerges

The
statin golden pot at the end of the rainbow has recently been threatened
due to the fact that several best-selling statin drugs have lost patent
protection and are now open to generic competition for pennies on the
dollar ((Lipitor sales are off 25%). Newer cholesterol drugs in the pipeline
have turned out to be a total bust. In order to get insurers to keep coughing
up unnecessary money Big Pharma had to be creative – and dishonest (no
surprise there).

Merck
and Schering-Plough have joined forces to market Zetia (which works in
the digestive tract differently than a statin) and Vytorin (which is a
combination of Zetia and a statin). By combining a statin in this way
generic competition can be avoided. Either Zetia or Vytorin sell for $3
a day, compared to $0.25 for a generic statin. By adding Zetia to any
other statin or by taking the combination pill cholesterol can be lowered
an additional 15%. This has created a $5 billion dollar share of the statin
market for these two drugs.

Is lowering
cholesterol an extra 15% worth it? That is the billion dollar question.
Forbes
was the first to blow the lid on what is obviously a rip-off. The Wall
Street Journal is also covering the story. Vytorin has never been proven
to prevent heart attacks, strokes or deaths any better than a plain generic
statin. In 2002 Merck/Schering Plow undertook a study to prove that the
combination prevented plaque build up in the arteries better than a statin
alone. The study was completed in April of 2006. The drug companies are
sitting on the results, and now have announced they are changing the primary
outcome of the study after it is done – a scientific farce.

It is
obvious that the top executives in these companies know the results are
not good. They can’t throw the data away as their marketing campaign was
built on the expectation of a favorable outcome of these studies. Even
doctors are complaining about the stalling tactic. The longer they can
stall the longer they can collect their $5 billion in yearly sales, swindling
Americans of hard earned money. This is, unfortunately, an example of
typical drug company behavior. The FDA is of course snoozing on the job
– they should be warning consumers of the dangers of lowering cholesterol
excessively.

Take
Health into Your Own Hands

The
medical profession has lost almost all credibility. There is no short
cut to being healthy. The majority of drugs are best used for a short
duration, which is not in the best interest of Big Pharma profits. Some
people in poor health need to be managed with drugs. Drugs as a tool for
general health and prevention are a travesty. The statin industry is a
scam gone wild. Space in this article has only allowed me to define a
few of the primary statin side effects. There are many more that are seldom
explained, including weakened immunity and cognitive decline. Statins
are a slow and insidious poison wherein the side effects gradually get
worse the longer a person takes them. This means that people often don’t
realize their decline in health is from the statin, until someone points
this issue out to them and they look at how their health in general has
deteriorated since being on a statin. No, it’s not that the person is
simply getting older – it’s the statin! You may read about all the statin
side effects for
free in my book, Fight
for Your Health: Exposing the FDA’s Betrayal of America (chapters
19-21).

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If we
want a renaissance in cardiovascular fitness and quality of life in the
over 50 crowd then most of the meds need to go in the trash and be replaced
with consistent exercise programs, a fresh and organic diet, stress management
programs, improved quality of sleep, and appropriate dietary supplements
that support fitness and healthy cardiovascular function. Seniors need
to have a rightful and respected place in our culture.

Richards
encourages individuals to take charge of their health, stand up for their
health rights, and not blindly succumb to propaganda from the vested-interests
who profit from keeping Americans sick. As founder of Wellness Resources,
Inc. of Minneapolis, MN, an independently-owned fine-quality dietary supplement
company since 1985, he has personally developed 75 unique nutraceutical-grade
nutritional formulas. www.wellnessresources.com